U-T Editorial: Dual-purpose delta

The interests of wildlife and people converge on a canal

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Delta Vision Blue Ribbon Task Force has affirmed the dual purpose of restoring the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta: to meet the need of its flora, its fauna and 25 million Californians for its water.

That will suit most residents. So will the least intrusive way to convey water north and south: a canal that circumvents rather than slices through the delta.

Unfortunately, history suggests that environmental activists will sue to stall if not stop easier distribution of delta water for human use. They've already produced a court order to reduce the water pumped out to a relative trickle.

This week, however, an environmental organization long dedicated to preserving and restoring California waters adopted a different tack. Ending water exports from the delta clearly remains The Nature Conservancy's preference. Nonetheless, it has announced that “a peripheral canal is an essential component to restoring the conditions that Delta species need to survive.”

As for the survival of 25 million Californians, the conservancy reasons that their desperate searches for water elsewhere could degrade the state's natural environment even more.

However grudging the conservancy's endorsement, we'll take it. Southern California will have battle enough with northern opponents who in 1982 killed a peripheral canal and still oppose sending delta water south by any means.

Fortunately, the diehards are now fewer. Southern California's case is now better: In diversifying sources and conserving water, we have far outstripped the north. And Northern California has its own water problems a peripheral canal can resolve. If – when – delta levees collapse and saltwater floods the delta, a canal could keep fresh water flowing from farther upriver.

The Nature Conservancy's primary concern is for delta wildlife, and it will no doubt press it effectively. For Southern California, a reliable water supply tops the list. Its representatives must press that concern just as undoubtedly and just as effectively.